Families of Addicts Need Help Too!

A few nights ago, I saw a woman interviewed on our local news.?She is a single mom, with a 15-year-old son who was, according to her, “spiralling out of control.” In the?interview she stated that the son has an opioid addiction. The mother wanted her son to get help for his addiction. She added that?because of a BC law, the only way she could get him into rehab is if he agreed to go or if he broke the law.

For quite some time he was not agreeing to go. But because he ultimately got into trouble and broke the law, he was put into a youth forensic unit and, hopefully, is now getting the help he needs – at least some of it.

I say that because, as an Addictions Therapist working for more than three decades with families who are struggling with addiction, this is what I know to be true: if this youth is the only one in his family to be helped, a full recovery for him will not happen.?

Addiction is a family condition – everyone is affected and everyone needs to heal. Unless the family (in this case his mother and anyone else who cares about him) is worked with while he is in treatment, that won’t be enough.

In both my personal and professional experience, as an addict myself with over 35 years clean and sober, I know for sure that families CAN heal. In order for this to happen, there has to be more emphasis and attention given to the family of people struggling with addiction, so that any enabling that might be happening inadvertently can be stopped – and so that they can learn how to truly HELP their addict come out of addiction.

At Love With Boundaries, that is exactly how we help families and their addicted loved ones.?If you need help – either now, during the Holiday Season or in the new year --?please feel free to reach out to us.

Let’s work together to stop addiction in your family – forever.